JJ wrote:Now onto volume 1 of the excellent Simon Schama's A History of Britain - At The Edge Of The World? 3000BC - AD1603. I'm 60 pages in and it's started well.

Finished that, and enjoyed it. Very easy to read although he did gloss over a few things a bit quickly a couple of times.

Before I dive into volume 2 I'm now reading John le Carre - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I've read a few others of his and thought they were good, especially The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, so thought I'd give arguably his most famous novel a try.

Well who's that shouting? John, ex-Moderator - all he ever gives us is pain!

JJ wrote:Now onto volume 1 of the excellent Simon Schama's A History of Britain - At The Edge Of The World? 3000BC - AD1603. I'm 60 pages in and it's started well.

Finished that, and enjoyed it. Very easy to read although he did gloss over a few things a bit quickly a couple of times.

Before I dive into volume 2 I'm now reading John le Carre - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I've read a few others of his and thought they were good, especially The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, so thought I'd give arguably his most famous novel a try.

You won't be disappointed, this book marvellously evokes the Cold War era. The television adaption is almost as good.

As it happens I was a bit disappointed in TTSS. I don't know if I just wasn't paying due attention, or that I'd only read one of the earlier novels so didn't 'get' some of the references, but I found it a bit confusing and nothing much happened until I was 300 pages in. Perhaps I was just being a bit thick!

Anyway, I'm now into John Irving's The Cider House Rules. One of his other books (Until I Find You) is in my top 5 books of all time.

Well who's that shouting? John, ex-Moderator - all he ever gives us is pain!

Finished the new The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye (Stig Larsson).It's a decent enough read but a bit OTT in places. Lisbeth is superhuman at this stage and it seems that nothing or nobody can kill her but it's still an enjoyable read.

JJ wrote:As it happens I was a bit disappointed in TTSS. I don't know if I just wasn't paying due attention, or that I'd only read one of the earlier novels so didn't 'get' some of the references, but I found it a bit confusing and nothing much happened until I was 300 pages in. Perhaps I was just being a bit thick!

Anyway, I'm now into John Irving's The Cider House Rules. One of his other books (Until I Find You) is in my top 5 books of all time.

Read TTSS a long time ago, thought it was really good but I had watched the excellent tv adaptation staring Alec Guinness beforehand. I didn't think the tv sequel Smiley's People was quite as good, although the book was. This was around 1982, for reading the books that is, watched the tv series first time around, have the DVDs now.

Finished The Cider House Rules. Quite enjoyed it but ultimately nowhere near as good as Until I Find You by the same author.

Then started Atom Bomb Angel by Peter James. Finished that yesterday. Easy to read but not very good. I only bought it as I'm a sucker for anything to do with nuclear war or related. Some parts of it were quute good, but then hugely let down by pathetically crap 'get outs' from difficult positions.

I've now just started City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin. The final book in the trilogy that started with the unbelievably brilliant The Passage, if it's anything like as good as that I'll love it (aside from nuclear war, vampires are one of my other 'things').

Well who's that shouting? John, ex-Moderator - all he ever gives us is pain!

I don't usually have the focus/concentration to fully read a book but I'm currently making good progress through Jenson Button's 'Life To The Limit' autobiography that I got from parents. It is interesting/fascinating hearing his perspective regarding the course of his career from early carting days through to the end of his time in Formula One. It also helps me that despite it having a fairly respectable 334 page count it is all fairly small chapters making it easy to dip in and out of whenever I have a spare moment, Great front and back cover and some good pics throughout also makes this a great book to have!

JJ wrote:I've now just started City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin. The final book in the trilogy that started with the unbelievably brilliant The Passage, if it's anything like as good as that I'll love it (aside from nuclear war, vampires are one of my other 'things').

Finished 'The City of Mirrors', and really enjoyed it - an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. My first thought on finishing it was to re-read 'The Passage', as having now read all three some things might make a bit more sense than they did first time around, but the thing is there are just so many books to read...

So instead I've moved on to 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' by Philip K. Dick. A bit of a weird start (as you might expect from sci-fi), but so far so good.

Well who's that shouting? John, ex-Moderator - all he ever gives us is pain!